I live in Salt Lake City and we had an incident here that makes me very
concerned about old tires..... Apparently age DOES affect tires. An
investigative reporter found that a shop had been installing tires which had
sat in a warehouse for over fifteen years. These were not exposed to the
sun, nor had they ever been installed on any vehicle. It cost at least two
people their lives. The tires simply came apart in chunks as described by
Marion. Ford and Chrysler have now agreed to put warnings on their vehicles
to change the tires every six years regardless of wear. More info at this
link which is a follow up to the previous story he did a year ago:
http://kutv.com/getgephardt/local_story_165222340.html
If you read to the bottom it will tell you how to determine the age of your
tires.
Dean
Salt Lake City
70 SB FI/AT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marion McDonald" <mmmpwm@bellsouth.net>
To: <type3@vwtype3.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2005 10:52 PM
Subject: Re: [T3] In need of TIRES
> I'll put my two cents in about the the safety old tires.
>
> I purchased 4 Michelin radials for my vehicle in 1973 after the
factory
> tires worn out at 32,000 miles.
> These tires remained on the vehicle until August, 1986 when one of the
tires
> on the rear failed while driving on the expressway. The tires at that
time
> had 89,000 miles on them, but still had plenty of tread. The tires over
the
> years had developed cracks on the side wall near the wheel and also in the
> bottom of the grooves in the tire tread. When the tire failed it did not
> deflate, but chunks of the thread surface came off the tire. I was still
> able to drive the car slowly to the tire store to replace the tire. I
> purchased two Michelin tires for the rear. I drove the car with the two
old
> tires and the two newer tires until October, 1991, when I replaced the
1973
> tires on the front with two Michelin radials. The two front tires had
> 108,000 miles on them by then and still had some tread, but I was getting
> concerned because they were 18 years old. I drive the car sparingly on
the
> expressway and this coupled with the lack of weight on the front tires
> probably allowed me to go as long as I did with them. The tires purchased
> in 1986 & 1991 stayed on the car until June, 2004. Two of the tires had
> 37,000 and two had 17,700 miles on them. They also had developed the
cracks
> on the side walls and in the bottom of the tread grooves. I planned to
> drive up to the Invasion in August and did not trust the tires on a long,
> high speed expressway drive to Hershey. I placed the Michelin's on my
> Beetle and they will probably stay there for a while. It's a 36 hp 1960
> model and I don't think I can go fast enough in it to make them fail.
>
> I'll let the above narrative speak for itself. I do think there is
> cause for concern as a tire ages.
>
> Marion McDonald
> Lawrenceville, Ga.
> 1971 FB
>
>
>
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